Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen has been appointed to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, it was announced on Monday afternoon.
Dannen and Jeff Long – former AD at Kansas, Arkansas and Pittsburgh – were new appointees to the committee announced by Rich Clark, the executive director of the CFP.
“We are pleased to have Troy and Jeff join the committee,” Clark said in a statement. “Troy brings a long commitment to college athletics to our group and previous experience as a member of the FCS Selection Committee, while Jeff, as the first chairman of the CFP selection committee (2014-15) will step in immediately and provide an experienced voice in the room.”
It’s a three-year term upon appointment. Former Husker head coach Mike Riley is also currently serving on the 13-member committee.
The CFP selection committee is responsible for ranking the top 25 teams, then assigning the 12 teams to the playoff bracket. The committee meets in-person beginning in early November and produces a ranking of the top 25 teams each week leading up to its final selections.
Dannen is replacing Damon Evans, who recently became the AD at SMU. Long is replacing Steve Weiberg, who stepped away for personal reasons.
The Husker athletic director Dannen, who arrived in Lincoln in March of 2024, has been on some important committees before. From 2021-23 he served as a member of the NCAA Constitution Committee and the Division I Transformation Committee. He also previously served as the chair of the NCAA Football Competition Committee and was an executive committee member of the Football Oversight Committee.
Last year was the first go round with a 12-team playoff and a similar layout is planned for this year.
The 12 teams consists of the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The schools seeded five through eight will host those seeded nine through 12 in first-round games.
The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The College Football Playoff National Championship will be on Monday, January 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
